Sunday, April 25, 2010

Dear residents of Indian Harbour Lake, Sonora and Wine Harbour: I am campaigning for the office of Municipal Councilor for St. Mary's District 4.

There are three primary threats to the quality of life for all of us who live here. High unemployment will probably force most of our young people to move far away to find jobs. Because of government cut backs St. Mary's Educational Centre may be closed as early as 2011. In the near future record high tides may devastate our roads and homes that are only a few feet above sea level. We are being told that there is little that you and I can do about any of these problems but this is simply not true.

Satellite pictures show rapid melting of Arctic ice but only about ten percent is above water level. Ice occupies more space than liquid water so until now we have experienced rather little ocean level rise. Our situation will be entirely different if and when melting occurs in the massive ice pack on Greenland and Antarctica that sit on land.

I am in agreement with environmentalist and economist Bjorn Lomborg that a carbon shift policy will probably be ineffective over the short term in combating global temperature increases or in preventing a destructive rise in world ocean levels.

"Bjorn Lomborg argues that many of the elaborate and expensive actions now being considered to stop global warming will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, are often based on emotional rather than strictly scientific assumptions, and may very well have little impact on the world's temperature for hundreds of years." (lomborg.com/coolit/)

Two effective methods to combat global warming and simultaneously fight rising ocean levels have been proposed by New Mexico biologist Carl Cantrell.

"So how is our problem of continental drying causing global warming? It all has to do with vegetation and sunlight. When sun light hits a plant, it causes a process which we call photosynthesis where the energy from the sun light creates oxygen for us to breathe, water for us to drink, and is stored as sugar for plants and animals to use. When the same sun light hits the soil, all of its energy turns into heat and is radiated back into the atmosphere.. ."

"Therefore, the less vegetation you have on the planet, the more sunlight is being turned into heat and the warmer the planet becomes...."

"Just take a look at any satellite picture of the earth showing heat and you will see that our deserts are the warmest spots on the planet by far. More heat is being generated by just one of the top four or five deserts than by all of our cities combined.... "

"The truth is that you can do more to decrease global warming by just reducing the average temperature for the Sahara Desert by one or two degrees than if we humans completely quit using fossil fuels and returned to the cave…."

"So, how would you start working to resolve this problem? Easy, cool the deserts and get some vegetation growing on them as soon as possible. But the method is much more complex than that. You have to use the prevailing trade winds in relation to the deserts to get the best results as quickly as possible and it will be extremely expensive…."

"Then we build desalination plants along the coast near these water sheds and pipe water to the tops or ridges of the water sheds…"

"We need to start working on this as soon as possible because, if the planet reaches a point to where it is warming faster than our technology can possibly stop or reverse this warming trend, then our planet is lost and all life will cease to exist on this planet within a relatively short period of time. We will need to start with the largest and hottest deserts because cooling them will have the greatest benefit in the least time (Global Warming II by biologist Carl Cantrell)."

Another promising method to green the deserts is to use hydrogen fuel cell technology to power vehicles in the hottest and driest regions of the earth. Imagine millions of vehicles across the Sahara, the Middle East, near the US Mojave desert and in the outback of Australia all spewing harmless water vapor as exhaust! Rest assured humidity and rainfall will increase in those areas and vegetation will grow.

Last week I wrote a lengthy e-mail to Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "Ms. May, if you owned a large apartment building and your tenants complained that the rooms were too warm would you listen to the advice of the contractor who was telling you to rip all the insulation out of the walls of this structure?"

"I don't think that you would because your article indicates that you have a phenomenal intellect and listening to this probably self-interested contractor would be incredibly unwise!"

"Combating global warming by first getting rid of CO2 is comparable to tearing the insulation out of this hypothetical building. CO2 is not a pollutant. Plants love this compound and some people even seem to feel that the recent greening in some parts of the Sahara Desert is partly attributable to increased levels of CO2. I tend to strongly agree with them in this assertion."

"Several days ago Mr. Charles Moore informed me that Canada produces roughly only 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Our nation could invest billions of dollars into reducing our carbon footprint and yet all this would have essentially zero effect on the global environment if China and India did not take similar measures.... besides....CO2 IS NOT A POLLUTANT... PLANTS LIVE ON IT AND RISING WORLD OCEAN LEVELS ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY THE GREATEST MOST IMMEDIATE THREAT POSED BY GLOBAL WARMING TO EVERY COASTAL COMMUNITY!!!!!!!!! (E-mail, September 11, 2008)

Ms. May deserves credit for encouraging Canadian political leaders to take environmental issues more seriously but at this time I feel that she has far too much confidence in the proposals put forward at Kyoto. The skepticism that Prime Minister Harper had for this accord seems to have been based on sound reasoning. Liberal Leader Stephane Dion was wise to hope for more time to further study this complex subject before an election.

You would be astonished how many of our political leaders do not understand the tremendous benefits of historical Canadian monetary policy.

"Why was a much larger national debt shrugged off in 1945, while today's much smaller debt (as a percentage of GDP) is being used as an excuse to let the economy stagnate?"

"The answer can be found at the Bank of Canada. During the war, and for 30 years afterward, the government could borrow what it needed at low rates of interest, because the government's own bank produced up to half of all the new money. That forced the private banks to keep their interest rates low, too.

"Since the mid-1970s, however, the Bank of Canada, with government consent, has been creating less and less of the new money, while letting the private banks create more and more. Today «our» bank creates a mere 2% of each year's new money supply, while allowing the private banks to gouge the government — and of course you and me, as well — with outrageously high interest rates. And it is these extortionate interest charges that are the principal cause of the rapid escalation of the national debt. If the federal government were paying interest at the average levels that prevailed from the 1930s to the mid-1970s, it would now be running an operating surplus of about $13 billion!"

..... "Clearly the current problem of the Canadian government's deficit is not its absolute size, or its size relative to the GDP, but the insane way it is being financed. A return to the policies of the World War II era, when the Bank of Canada produced almost one-half of the new money at near-zero interest, would do wonders for the economy, while greatly shrinking the deficit... The first order of business for a post-Mulroney- era government must be to regain effective control of the Bank of Canada and make it the primary source of money creation.

"It is ludicrous for the government to put billions of dollars into circulation by borrowing from the private banks, when it can create the extra money it needs, virtually free. "(by Harold Chorney, John Hotson, and Mario Seccareccia) .

We can encourage our federal and provincial level officials to re-enact wise monetary policy such as Prime Minister Mackenzie King did in 1940 by organizing a local film production cooperatives or company. Due to our proximity to the ocean we should all be highly motivated to produce films and effectively use the media to educate individuals and politicians all across Canada through YouTube.com. Time is limited if we hope to stimulate our economy, save our elementary school and prevent the loss of our roads and homes to the threat of rising ocean levels.

We have been told that we are almost helpless before these massive problems but what did the author of Genesis say about human capability for either evil or good if we unite on a common goal:

"And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." (Genesis 11)

Can we visualize extensively using hydrogen fuel cell cars in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Australia and Kuwait?
"And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water." (Isaiah 35)

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About Me

Back in university as I was taking classes in economics I began to wonder, "if the forces that drive the economy are so easy to understand, why is there such a high level of unemployment here in Nova Scotia?"
I could not figure out a satisfactory answer to this question until 1994 when Mr. Terriault from Digby Neck introduced me to a publication that filled in the missing pieces to the puzzle.
They say that knowledge is power, and Peter Paker's uncle said that with power comes great responsibility. I am hoping to run for public office in the next provincial election. I already campaigned for the office of Municipal Councillor and I so enjoyed campaigning that I plan to get back out there on the trail soon!